Time to get over to this blog to type ramblings about authors is hard enough for me to make, and I have zero babies. But, in keeping with the general vibe of posts over here, I'm back with another random Dollar Bookstore discovery.
I finished the latest book I wrote about over here, Richard Flanagan's Wanting. I found it good, but certainly not as outstanding as I had hoped, but that's my fault.
Saying something truthful, like "Well, it's not as a good as Gould's Book of Fish," is like complaining Pudd'nhead Wilson isn't as good as Huck Finn--how could it be? In both cases, one is good book by a genius, and the other is a masterpiece.
But, since Flanagan doesn't get the recognition he deserves, sometimes his books end up on the margins, and for me in downtown Long Beach, those margins are manifested in the physical world by our Dollar Bookstore.
So the other day I found another new book to get to once my Christmas reading has finished:
The premise is that a stripper wakes up one morning to see her face all over the news as a newly wanted terrorist. After reading Wanting, I am curious to see how Flanagan deals with a more modern narrative. The first and last chapters of Gould's... notwithstanding, I've only seen his prose in specific historical time periods, and this idea seems like it could have some legs.
Also, having read Wanting, I know where to set my expectations so I won't face disappointment.
Also, I didn't necessarily want an entire post for this other idea, but I felt i'd like it floating around out here in the etched-stone of cyberspace.
ReplyDeleteI found a list online of the "Most Disturbing/Shocking Films Ever Made", perused it, started thinking, found many other similar lists by other people, and then stayed up very late on the first nights we were back in the states and couldn't sleep and watched some of them on Youtube.
Not that they helped me sleep, of course.
It just, Norm, reminded me of the kinds of things you and I would have done twenty years ago.
In any case, it seems like the consensus for "Most Disturbing Movie Made for Commercial Purposes" is called "A Serbian Film." I wouldn't be surprised if you've heard of it or seen it even.
If you haven't had the chance to peruse this,er, film, trust me, something morbid inside of you will be darkly satisfied by how fucking wrong this movie is. I watched it in Serbian without subtitles, so some of the details were lost on me. Not like it matters.
Any movie that has a scene where a newborn baby is pulled from its tied-up mom and then raped to death, and this infant-rape scene is NOT the most shocking or disturbing scene in the movie almost forces a person to laugh.
Unless that person is vomiting.
Whoa bro! Pump the brakes!! Strange, the timing of life, as I have found myself deeply disturbed and rattled from something I just finished watching yesterday. This movie, The Counselor, has elements of all things dark underbelly. I think that the real issue I'm having is the same one I seemed to have with many of the films I saw at the end of last year. There is no resolution that brings comfort. So many award nominated movies from last year just end. It's as if filmmaker's got to this place where they've agreed the public is ready for the truth and that truth is that life can be a disgusting rollercoaster and then it ends. Don't waste your time with The Counselor, instead, try to find The Man of Tai Chi with Tiger Chen and Keanu Reeves....yes, that Keanu. That is a great movie.
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